to the stars
by KR Blake
Summary: In which Ally is sick, and Austin wishes he could whisk her away to the stars. Auslly. One-shot. For Emily, as emotional compensation.


**Inspired by _Always_ by R5. **

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**This is for Emily, because she read this first, and it's only fair, after the pain I put her through.**

**And because she's my best friend and I love her a lot.**

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Tapping on his window. Light, barely there, but he knew it. He knew who waited for him on the other side of that window.

He smiled to himself.

Pushing out of bed, he walked over to the window and pulled it up, letting in the crisp night air, and the tiny brunette that waited for him on the other side. She climbed over the sill and landed somewhat gracefully in front of him, her arms immediately going around his neck and lips meeting his.

He couldn't say this was a bad way to be woken up, even at one a.m.

But she couldn't be here—she shouldn't. It wasn't good for her, and no matter how much it hurt, he couldn't ignore that. Not for his life, and not for hers.

Still, that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy it for a moment.

Smiling against her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her back, sighing in contentment. She relaxed into him. Her too-starched dress scratched against his skin as she moved, but this moment was too rare and delicate to think about that. _She_ was too rare and delicate to think about that.

"Ally," he said, pulling away from her lips and resting his forehead against hers. "What are you doing here? You can't be here."

"I wanted to see you." She replied with an innocent smile, but he saw the rebellious glint behind it. It was more than him she wanted to see. It was everything, and he knew that.

Suddenly, she ripped herself out of his enticing embrace, grabbing his wrist, and dragged him towards the window excitedly. "Run away with me, Austin!" she begged. Austin just laughed, smiling.

"And where would we go?" he raised an eyebrow, thinking how sweet and innocent she looked. Her whole face begged him—_desperately_ wanted him to say yes, he'd run away with her.

But he couldn't do that.

Not if she would be hurt.

"Anywhere we want!" she insisted. "We could go to Paris, or London, or Athens, or—or—" she looked out the window longingly, at the sky. "Or we could go to the stars."

"The stars?" he asked, looking out the window with her. She nodded happily. "How would we get there?"

She turned to him and nuzzled herself into his side. "You could take us there." She said.

He felt a little piece of his heart break off at that. "What if I can't run that far?" he asked, his voice thick, though she didn't notice.

"You could." She stated. "I know you could. You could take us anywhere."

"But what if I can't take you _there_?"

"Don't _say_ that!" she stomped her foot, frustrated, looking up at him. Anger was apparent on her perfect olive face. "You could do it—you can do anything. I know you can." He kissed the top of her head sadly.

_But I can't save you…_

"Promise me you'll take me to the stars, Austin." she said. "Promise me that."

He almost didn't want to say it. But it was for her. "I promise."

/-/-/-/

She lay in bed today, too fragile, too tired to get up. No one had tried to make her. They could see the dissipation in her eyes; they were glassy and unseeing.

He didn't say anything as he knelt beside her bed, holding her hand loosely in his own. It was so quiet in this room. There were no beeps of machines to him. There were no people coughing, or calling orders to one another. He could only focus on her, and her glassy eyes.

"When will you take me to the stars?" she asked in a small, broken voice. The sound broke his heart.

"I don't know, Ally." He said honestly.

"Can you take me tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes." She rolled over in her too-starched sheets and looked at him. "I want to go to the stars. Tomorrow."

"I…" he was at a loss for words.

"Please?" she pleaded, her eyes wide, suddenly seeming not quite as glassy as before. "You promised you'd take me."

"I know, and I'd never break a promise to you." That seemed to be enough of a reassurance to her, because she smiled, and pulled him closer, hugging him tightly. He savoured this hug, because there was just no telling how many more he'd get.

/-/-/-/

She sat on his lap today, happily enjoying the warmth of the solarium. She read aloud to him from one of her books—it was some Young Adult fiction book he didn't care for much. He just loved the sound of her voice as she spoke. English became a whole new language when she spoke. To him, she pronounced her syllables more magically, her words more rhythmically.

Why was it that the most beautiful things could never last?

Because nothing gold could say.

He knew that from one of the countless poems she'd read aloud to him. That one was by Robert Frost. Had Robert Frost felt the same way he felt? Had he had someone in his life he loved so much, like Austin loved Ally? Someone he was so inconceivably, inseparably, unconditionally in love with?

And had Robert Frost watch them waste away, right before his very eyes, without so much as an inkling of how to stop it?

"_But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief,_"

Yeah, Frost had had it right.

/-/-/-/

He'd never get enough of her; the way she kissed him, the way she held him as tightly as her thin, frail arms could…

There was just so much of her he could never have enough of.

He could never have enough of her sweet, vanilla scent with the slight undertone of strawberries.

He could never have enough of the way she fit into him, folding into his chest so compactly—so _perfectly_. It was like she was a part of him.

He could never get enough of her bright smile. It was even brighter than these sterilized-white walls. It was even brighter than the lights on the machines, and the lights shined in her eyes.

And it never faltered.

That was the one thing he could count on these days; the way her smile never faltered.

No matter how much pain the rest of her face showed.

/-/-/-/

"You're going to be here when I get out, right?" she asked anxiously, clinging onto his hand tightly. He hadn't thought she had this much strength left in her. Not anymore.

"Of course." He promised, squeezing back. "They'd have to drag me away kicking and screaming before I'd leave you."

"And then you'll take me to the stars?" she persisted. He almost cracked right then.

"O—of course." He promised again.

"No one will come with us." She dazed. "It'll be just us. No lab coats and no machines to tell us what to do. We can be all alone. Right?"

He didn't know how much heart he had left, but it just kept breaking. One piece after the other. Again and again. "I promise, Ally. I promise."

"I love you."

/-/-/-/

He held her limp hand in his. The tears fell down his face, one after the other, as he stared at her slackened face. She had a dreaming expression. He wondered where she was.

Was she still there, somewhere? Was she still clinging on? Or had she finally let go and run from all this?

He wouldn't blame her if she had run. Because he could never have imagined this—this pain for someone as beautiful as her. She didn't deserve to suffer like she did.

But at the same time, he prayed that she hadn't let go. Because then she wouldn't be with him. She would be gone, and there would be no getting her back. He'd always known that this time would come.

But he'd never wanted it to. He wanted to keep her all to himself, to hide her away from the entire world.

He wanted to be selfish with her, because he knew that one day, she would be gone.

And he prayed it wasn't today.

"You promised you'd take me to the stars." she said finally, in a small, broken voice. Oh, God, she sounded broken. "You promised, but you never did."

"I'm so sorry, Ally." He said in a quiet voice, mangled by tears. "I'm so, so sorry. I wished I could have. If I'd had the chance, I would have taken you in a heartbeat."

She cracked her eyes open. They were clouded, glassy. "I know you would have," she smiled ghostly. "Because you love me."

"I can still take you." He rushed, holding onto her tighter as her hand began to slip from his. "I promise, I still can."

"No," she turned her head to the ceiling, closing her eyes. "I… I can see the stars myself."

"Let me come with you."

"I love you."

He let her limp, lifeless hand fall from his own.

She was with the stars now.

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**So fun fact, I've never actually killed a character before. I mean, I've had people die before the story, as a background, but I've never... _actually_ done something like this before. I feel so evil. I'm so sorry. I'll go sit in the Box of Shame now... (heh, a little CassJayTuck reference there. Not the time). **

**-KR Blake **


End file.
